One thing that became quickly apparent in my first summer cruising around in my Bay was that there was nowhere to put a drink up front. Years ago no one had cupholders in their cars but these days if they're missing in a modern motor it's seen as inconvenient.
So since last summer I've been planning to rectify this - and today I have.
I liked the look of the
door pocket/can holders that Just Kampers stock and bought the longer version - 53cm as I reckoned that if I was going to go to the trouble of an install it may as well be as useful as possible. So here's how I went about it:
1. Strip the
door furniture. The
door handle is attached with 2 cross head screws found in the 2 square holes. The escutcheon for the
door release has a single cross head screw. The window winder needs the cover pulling off and then the cross head screw removing. Then put a cloth over a flat head screwdriver (to prevent scratches) and lever off the
door card. Work from bottom to top. Before you remove the last 2 top fasteners pull the bottom of the
door card out and detach the speaker wires from the speaker. Then remove the remaining
door card fasteners. The exposed shell of the
door should look like this:
2.If you haven't done so before - now is a good time to rub a household candle into the rear side of the
door card - it waterproofs it beautifully, so no matter how much water gets into your
door - it won't weaken the
door card and should drop straight to the bottom of the
door frame.
3.Next up was the choice as to where to position the new
pockets. I decided to put them towards the front of the
door as there they wouldn't interfere with the seat position lever to the left/right of the seat respectively and they needed to be in a place where they were easily reachable but not foul the path of the window winder. Further if I wanted to stick a water bottle or similar in the cup section I needed space for the height of such. Having decided that they should follow the natural shape of the
door I marked up the new
pockets and drilled holes with a 3mm drill bit.
Fixing the
door pocket along this line meant I could take advantage of the metal frame of the
door for most of the screws. If you only attach the pocket to the
door card - over time it will work its way loose.
4.Next up I refitted the
door card with just four fixings -2 at the top and 2 near to where the new pocket would sit to make sure the
door card was in the correct place. I held up the pocket into the position I wanted it to be and made 1 hole with a bradle - the far right upper screw hole (on the driver's
door) and then used a 10mm screw to keep it in place whilst I made another hole at the opposite end of the pocket (ie edge of the
door) to get the pocket straight. Having made all the necessary holes in the
door card I removed the pocket and carefully drilled through the
door card just 3 holes in the metal of the
door as shown:
5. Next I took the
door card off again to fit the pocket with the 2 screws that weren't going to go into the metal of the
door. They were the centre lower screw and the top right screw (where the window lifter goes up and down - vital that you don't use a long screw here as it would interfere with the movement of the window)(remember too when doing the opposite
door it's a mirror image.) I used a self tapping fixing on the back of these 2 screws such as you get for speaker attachment.
6. With the new pocket attached by 2 screws, I reattached the speaker wires then refitted the
door card and screwed in the remaining 3 screws into the metal body of the
door. I only used 1 of the supplied screws from Just Kampers - at the edge of the
door as the depth allowed on the
door frame was too shallow for anything but a 10mm screw. With 5 screws in place it was a perfect fit.
I'm really happy with the position of the
pockets/cupholder as it doesn't get in the way of anything - is very accessible - and once I've painted the screw heads with satin black paint it'll look factory. As a bonus - given the choice of position if there's any spillage it'll drop straight down into the footwell and therefore out of the van
Finished job - with a strip of red B&Q electrical tape because Max is a SportsKombi